Nestled between the Dal lake and the Zabarwan hills, Asia’s largest Tulip garden will open for the public on March 26 to mark the beginning of the tourism season in the Kashmir valley, officials said on Friday.The Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden was set up by Ghulam Nabi Azad, the then-chief minister of the erstwhile state in 2007, to advance the tourist season in Jammu and Kashmir that was earlier limited to summers and winters.
Formerly known as Siraj Bagh, the garden will be opened to the public as tulips of different colours have started to bloom, floriculture department officials said.
The department plants tulip bulbs in a phased manner so that the flowers remain in bloom for a month or more.
“The garden will be thrown open to the public on March 26,” Asif Ahmad, assistant floriculture officer at the tulip garden, said.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will throw open the garden, he added.
Preparations for the garden’s opening are in full swing and final touches are being given to make it ready, Ahmad said.
The department has added two new varieties of tulips to the garden this year, he further said.
“We try something new for the tulip garden every year. We are coming up with a new colour scheme this year. We have added two new varieties of tulips, bringing the total number to 74,” he added.
Other spring flowers such as hyacinths, daffodils, muscari, and cyclamens will also be on display.
About 17 lakh tulip bulbs have been planted in the garden that spreads over 55 hectares, Ahmad said.
“We have 1.7 million bulbs this year and the tourists will be able to see them bloom. The extension of the garden has reached almost its full capacity,” he said.
The garden started on a small scale with 50,000 tulip bulbs imported from The Netherlands. It instantly gained popularity among tourists and has been steadily growing each year, both in terms of the number of visitors and the tulips that bloomMore than 4.65 lakh visitors, both domestic and foreign, visited the garden last year while the footfall in 2023 was 3.65 lakh.
